Friday, July 02, 2010

"We were running on Oil for the last 100 years - what will be the next Energy basis for our survival? If we account all expenses for Oil and military protection of its supply Oil price is already well above 100 USD/barrel. Now BP Oil Spill national disaster will add billions to this price. Will Obama use this chance and move his Energy Security Agenda forward now, when time is running out with every barrel of Oil burnt in our engines? We are talking not only about our life styles and poor birds dying in the Gulf: we are talking about West as a society based on Oil addiction. It is not sustainable any more. There is no Cheap Oil any more left:"

We have a great news forEV market from GM - extension of roll out markets for GM Volt. New York state will be particularly important in order to generate buzz along with California and Washington, announced earlier. In order to bring reality into the recent hype with Tesla IPO, we need EVs on the streets as soon as possible. Tesla's IPO showed that there is an appetite for the sector and nobody would like to miss it, we can be sure that it put Electric Fever on investor's radar screens. How the TSLA stock will behave before Model S will hit the road and company will continue its losses is another matter: we have addressed it in Electric Car Value Chain. In order to talk about EV mass market we need GM Volt and Nissan Leaf to be on the roads later this year. Electric Cars is a geopolitical play - who will be able to get off the Oil needle first China or U.S Corp? Obama knows it and he is pushing for new legislation, Big Oil will strike back for sure and here where people will be able to vote for real with their choice. What will be the adoption rate of EVs: one of Washing Machines or Mobile Phones one with an explosive growth? It will be the key to low profile small lithium development sector. Markets caps are so small that with one Tesla IPO you can get reasonable amount of control in the entire sector in Canada now. We do not think that it is for long any more. With Electric Cars available on the streets Lithium sector will pick up again into the next Bull Leg from recent consolidation stage. Not all wanna be in Lithium will make it and time is to pick the winners during the summer downturn. Scared Fed will help us with Catalyst as well: Helicopters are coming with cash again and markets will be probably saved again to fool investors with nominal returns. Watch the US Dollar for the answers as well.

Texas, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will join the states where General Motors will roll out its electric car, the Chevrolet Volt, GM CEO Ed Whitacre announced Thursday.

The debut list originally included Washington, D.C., California and Michigan. GM expects to quickly run short of Volts when the cars go on sale in November.

Austin will be the first Texas city where the Volt will go on sale because it is known as an environmentally conscious place, Whitacre said.

"This is a new technology. This is green. This is electric," Whitacre said. Other Texas markets will get the car shortly after Austin, likely in 2011, he said.

Whitacre drove up to a downtown Austin hotel in a Volt, which can travel 40 miles on pure-electric power. After that, the small gasoline engine will kick in to generate power for the electric motor.

The distance the car can travel will eliminate the "range anxiety" some consumers have with electric cars, Whitacre told an Austin chamber of commerce audience.

GM expects the Volt to sell briskly from the start, Tony DiSalle, the car's marketing director, said in a webcast on Thursday.

"We understand that we'll be short early, but we'll continue to market the car," he said.

The automaker plans to produce 10,000 Volts by the end of the 2011 calendar year and an additional 30,000 in 2012.

Volts will be sold first in California, Washington, Austin and the New York City metropolitan area, DiSalle said. They'll arrive in Michigan, New Jersey, Connecticut and the rest of Texas and New York in 2011. The Volt will be available in all 50 states 12 to 18 months after its launch, DiSalle said.

GM will require Chevrolet dealers selling Volts to keep one in the store for customers to view and drive even if there's high demand. They also must have certified Volt specialists in sales and service, as well as a 240-volt charging station in the dealership, DiSalle said.

The Volt will have electric car competition shortly after it goes on sale. Nissan Motor Co. plans to start selling its Leaf all-electric car in December. The company says it will get up to 100 miles on a single charge. The Leaf has no backup engine on board and must be recharged after its batteries are depleted before it can travel again. But it also uses no gasoline.

The four-door hatchback Leaf will have a base price of $32,780, but it's eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit, making it closer to $25,000. The Volt is expected to cost around $35,000, or $27,500 with the tax credit, although pricing has not been announced.

Whitacre said that to call attention to the rollout, the Chevrolet Volt will embark on a four-day "Freedom Drive" from Austin to New York.

Whitacre told the Texas audience GM has made progress financially over the past year.

"For starters, we're making money again. That's an important milestone for the new General Motors," he said.

General Motors Co. emerged from U.S. government-led restructuring last July. The automaker plans to conduct a public stock offering that's at the heart of the company's revival.

The U.S. Treasury Department has said it expects to sell some of its 61 percent stake in GM when the company goes public. The initial public offering could happen as early as October. It's expected to be among the largest initial public offerings in U.S. history.

GM has said the IPO may occur in late 2010 or early 2011, and Whitacre said Thursday he had no updates on when it will be. Despite a still sluggish economy, he said this is a good year for a public offering.

"We're aiming for it as soon as we can get there," he said. "We have some things that we have yet to do. I can't have a date, but I think this is a good year to do it if we can get everything done. I think this is a great year."

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Auto Writers Tom Krisher and Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report from Detroit"

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Dedicated to all those brave men who have been fighting the bear market in 2000 and buying the dips without understanding that they were looking straight into the abyss. Do not trust your money in anybody, for you are the one who is going to be rich or poor, not those that are advising you: always do your DD. Disclosure: We are putting our money where our mouth is.